In today's dynamic world of technology, enterprises have an unprecedented array of powerful options at their disposal. Infrastructure options like “sovereign cloud”' and “private 5G” offer new possibilities and can create a perception of isolation, while a spectrum of infrastructure models- from public and private cloud to on-premise solutions-provides remarkable flexibility. Navigating these choices to find the optimal path for your specific needs is a strategic opportunity in building an effective technology strategy.
This post provides some perspective on how we can navigate this complex infrastructure landscape. It starts with understanding one simple, fundamental distinction: the difference between dedicated and shared Infrastructure. Understanding this single concept is the key to unlocking all other infrastructure choices and to making the most effective, economical decision.
The distinction is straightforward:
There are some nuances to the dedicated infrastructure (i.e."dedicated-like"/logically isolated, single tenant experience). An example of it is 5G network slicing. For example, a Telco/MNO can provide a private "VIP lane" on its public network to guarantee performance for an enterprise. However, while it feels dedicated, it is still a service running on a single provider's shared infrastructure. It does not provide carrier diversity if that single carrier's network fails, the private lane is also affected. Regardless of the underlying access network technology (4G/5G the transport network is shared most of the time). Network slicing creates a logically isolated, single-tenant experience running seamlessly over a multi-tenant transport network.
Therefore, for mission-critical operations, true resilience comes from a multi-layered strategy. Since any end-to-end connection from a device to an application server will inevitably use some shared components, you must build robust resilience by leveraging multiple network technologies (such as cellular, fiber, satellite etc.,) from multiple, independent carriers to enable network independent access to emergency services. True resilience requires more than just redundant hardware; it requires redundant connectivity pathways. This is where the PACE framework, originated for military communications planning to ensure connectivity in the most challenging environments, becomes invaluable for modern infrastructure planning. PACE stands for Primary, Alternate, Contingency, and Emergency. It provides a structured approach for architecting resilient connectivity by intentionally layering independent network technologies and carriers.
Making decision based on the workload’s predictability:
One way to choose between these infrastructure types is to analyze the nature of the workload the infrastructure will support. Is it dynamic and unpredictable, or is it static and predictable?
An unpredictable workload is one that is used intermittently, on an ad-hoc basis, or sits idle for most of its lifecycle. Building dedicated infrastructure for a workload that is 99% idle isn't economical.
Consider the challenge of coordinating multiple public safety agencies during a major incident. Instead of each agency buying and maintaining expensive, dedicated gateway hardware that sits idle most of the time, they can instantly spin up a communication gateway in the cloud.
Critical Connect is a cloud-based solution that connects different radio systems (e.g. Tetra, P25). This is a perfect use case for shared infrastructure:
The agility and cost-effectiveness of this model are undeniable for temporary needs (dynamic demand) and disaster recovery scenarios.
A static workload is constant, predictable and essential for an organization's daily operations. Think of public-safety agency dispatch software or a hospital's electronic health record system. These "always-on" systems are business-critical workloads. The capacity requirements are also quite predictable. In the public safety scenario, the exception could be unplanned incidents/large events.
For predictable, high-utilization workloads, dedicated infrastructure seems to be the optimal choice. The primary concerns shift from on-demand flexibility to achieving the highest form of security, reliability, performance and control.
A dedicated model offers:
So when to use shared infrastructure for predictable workloads? There are other factors influencing the use of shared infrastructure for predictable workloads, e.g. integration cost and complexity.
Now that the main concept is established, let’s see the other common ways to classify infrastructure. The three other ways to classify infrastructure are by its location (where it lives), its service model (how it's delivered) and increasingly by its architectural philosophy.
Depending on the capacity/scale, it can be classified as:
From an enterprise (e.g. law enforcement agency) customer perspective, the choice between shared and dedicated infrastructure is not about the technology itself, but about matching the right hosting model to the right workload. The most effective infrastructure strategy is rarely a rigid choice of one model over the other, but a hybrid approach tailored to your workloads. An organization can run its predictable workloads on a secure, dedicated infrastructure while leveraging shared, on-demand services for unpredictable events that require external collaboration.